The catcher pockets employed with conventional protective bibs have not readily remained open. As a result, various bib configurations have been developed to help hold open the bib pocket. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,995,321 issued Dec. 7, 1976 to S. Johnson discloses a bib which includes adhesive tabs designed to attach the front lip of the pocket to the edge of a table, thereby holding the bib pocket open. Other bib designs have employed a depending apron which is connected to the front lip of the bib pocket and which is configured to gravitationally open the pocket and hold it open. For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,495,658 issued Jan. 29, 1965 to D. Moret, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,445,231 issued May 1, 1984 to J. Noel; U.S. Pat. No. 4,441,212 issued Apr. 10, 1984 to N. Ahr, et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,416,025 issued Nov. 22, 1983 to D. Moret, et al.
Bib configurations have also employed side gusset members to help hold the bib pocket open. For example, see British Pat. No. 1,463,863 published Feb. 9, 1977 with K. Andersson as the listed inventor; and U.S. Pat. No. 2,367,383 issued Jan. 16, 1945 to J. Tiscornia.
To hold the garment on a wearer, conventional bibs have typically employed tie straps having various configurations. Examples of such tie straps are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,475,250 issued Oct. 9, 1984 to B. Savin, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,793,644 issued Feb. 26, 1974 to I. Kellner; U.S. Pat. No. 3,999,221 issued Dec. 28, 1976 to L. Hannigan; U.S. Pat. No. 3,146,465 issued Sep. 1, 1964 to R. Hummel; and U.S. Pat. No. 2,174,694 issued Oct. 3, 1939 to A. Elson. A disposable baby bib employing an elastic strip having spring clips at its opposite ends is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,571,888 issued Oct. 16, 1951 to K. Jesse.
Conventional protective bib garments, such as those described above, have not been completely satisfactory. The bib garments have not provided a sufficiently reliable and convenient mechanism for holding the catcher pocket open. For example, the bib configurations which attach a part of the bib to a piece of furniture can undesirably limit the movement of the wearer and can put excessive stresses on the bib structure. In addition, the securing straps employed by conventional bib configurations are often cumbersome to tie and can undesirably loosen during use.